Thursday, May 20, 2010

One of the advantages of working with a trade magazine (instead of a commercial magazine) is that you are one step ahead of the market. I'm working with a home decor magazine and we keep receiving trend books from across the globe. One of such trend books i recently received from Mood, Brussels fair, its one of the leading home furnishing fairs from Germany and I'm supposed to do an Indian interpretation of the same for the magazine.Their main theme this year is (Re)naissance... you can read more about it when you click on this link!

Anyhow, the trend that I was really drawn to was the sub theme - Memento Mori - Spanish for 'Remember that you are a mortal' there fore enjoy today! Its all about taking inspiration from across the globe, tapping the traditional weaves and cultural influences. this trend is a total blast of colors! Reading about this immediately reminded me of the fashion feature Marie Claire had done a few months back called the Nomad's Land!

I love how its Cultural Shock ... what I really mean is Traditional beads, baubles, chokers, bracelets with major shock value!!!! Check out the way they are wearing animal printed socks with cut-out sandals... ahh the bags.. what's not to love about this shoot?!

Check it Out (oh and u can totally blame my sheer laziness for not scanning the mag and simply clicking them!!) :

All the pieces showcased in this editorial are Hermes, Diane Von Furstenberg, Dyrberg Kern... But in the jewelry department i dont see a reason why we can't find such pieces every nook and corner of the countryCheck out some of my treasured pieces collected from streets of Janpath, Delhi or Colaba Causeway, Bombay, Goan Flea markets, Pushkar, Surajkund Craft Mela, Haryana... This is only some of it so you can imagine how lucky my grand kids are gonna be ;)

This twisted thread and mirror belt is sooo gorgeous and i found it at this little shop in Bandra, Bombay called 'Mela', that place has a really beautiful selection of bags and jewelry and clothes from all over the country... must visit if you travelling to bombay!

Also, these belts double up as curtain tying tassels or head bands or hair accessory.. So much fun at bargain price of Rs. 100!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

One of the trends doing rounds right now is Shape shifters. This trend finds its roots in the collections by designers like Alexander Wang. I'm not much of a trend follower but what I wore today can be termed as a take on this popular theme. Most of the high-street brands are coming up with their Alex Wang like over sized T-shirts, cropped T-shirts, Bat wing Tunics etc. to allow the wearer use his own imagination to change the shape of the garment.

You can pull down the neck to show off your shoulder or Buckle up a belt to give it a shape. Its really fun to play around with the silhouette. Another reason why I'm completely in agreement with this trend is because it is so figure flattering when done right !

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Black and White are technically not even colors, thats what we learnt at Design school. Absence of Light is black and abundance of light is white... but when the forces combine, its the most popular combination ever born! Well ...waiters, corporates, lawyers at least seem to agree ;)

Monday, May 17, 2010

I think most of the awesome(self-proclaimed) ideas emerge out of the blue. While I was spending a long afternoon browsing through the aisles of Fab-India's home furnishing department, doing some ground research for a 'Curtain and Window covering' report I'm writing for the magazine, I ended up shopping for this really unique graphic black and white printed pants! The minute I laid my eyes on them, I had sorta put together an outfit in my mind.

I rushed back home madly in search of the fabrics I bought from Ahmedabad. Its only once I had the Leheria dupatta securely in my hand, that I stopped ravaging through my wardrobe (FYI 'Leher' = Wave .. thus this tie and dye technique derives its name from the wavy/striped appearance of the fabric)

I knew I wanted to make a wrap out of it, only I had to work out how?! I started playing around with the dupatta and ended up creating an interesting way of draping using only 2 safety pins and tada a Wrap!!. Its SO simple! I'm going to get it sewed up properly soon..

Saturday, May 15, 2010

A recent visit to Gandhinagar had me packing my bags with Bandhini fabrics (for summer kaftans maybe??) Leheriya stolls (linear tie dye technique) Natural dye block print cottons... all in all really great inspiration for insanely hot and dry delhi summers. While and my mom are still fighting over which one's mine and hers and what to do with all this unstiched fabric, it thought I'd share with you some pics I clicked over my trip that really inspire me..

I love the how women in one of the hottest part of the country do not shy away from a blast of colors. This lady, especially gave me this incredible idea of breaking a basic black and white geometrical print's monotony with a splash of color... Maybe using a scarf!??

Also, everywhere you travel in this city, you see girls covering up in colorful scarves - Stylish sun protection. My friend Khushboo was wearing this fun leopard print scarf.... i totally have to find some awesome printed scarves!!!